Domestic Partner Benefits: Prevalence Among Private Employers
Since June 2006, the majority of Fortune magazine's 500 largest publicly-traded companies have provided health insurance benefits to same-sex partners of employees. More information is available from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's annual State of the Workplace report.
| Fortune 100 | Fortune 500 | Fortune 1000 | AmLaw 200 | Raw Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 Total | 83 (83%) |
286 (57%) |
390 (39%) |
149 (75%) |
9,375 (—) |
| 2003 Total | 64 (64%) |
200 (40%) |
— | — | 6,753 (—) |
- State of the Workplace
- LGBT Equality at the Fortune 500
- Domestic Partner Benefits and the Corporate Equality Index
- Search our employer database: Employers that povide domestic partner health benefits
In addition, statistics on the prevalence of domestic partner benefits are available from Business & Legal Reports, Hewitt Associates, Kaiser Family Foundation, Mellon HRIS and the Society for Human Resource Management. Some of the SHRM and Kaiser data have been provided in aggregate form in the table below; please refer to the original reports for more detailed information.
Although the studies are distinct in terms of their size and composition between small, medium and large businesses, their results are clear: regardless of business size, the trend toward domestic partner benefits is increasing, with substantial gains among the largest employers.
| SHRM Domestic Partner Benefits Mini- Survey |
2004 SHRM Benefits Survey |
2006 SHRM Benefits Survey |
2008 SHRM Benefits Survey |
2008 Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits Survey* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month, Year | Jan-97 | Jun-04 | Jun-06 | Jun-08 | Sep-08 |
| % Availability All Employers |
7%[1] | 27%[2] | 42%[3] | 36%[4] | 39%[5] |
| % Availability Lg. Employers |
n/a | 36% | 43% | 43% | 50% (5,000+ employees) / 37% (1,000-4,999 employees) |
| % Availability Med. Employers |
n/a | 25% | 29% | 32% | 30% |
| % Availability Sm. Employers |
n/a | 22% | 28% | 28% | 21% |
Survey Composition: Number of employers surveyed, percentage of large employers (500-plus employees), medium employers (100-499 employees) and small employers (1-99 employees), unless otherwise indicated.*
[1] 777 employers surveyed. A breakdown of this survey’s employer size was not available.
[2] 459 employers surveyed: 19% large employers, 43% medium employers and 34% small employers.
[3] 363 employers surveyed: 29% large employers, 42% medium employers and 29% small employers.
[4] 975 employers surveyed: 39% large employers, 37% medium employers and 24% small employers.
[5] *Kaiser/HRET survey uses a different scale than SHRM. 1,927 employers surveyed: 15% large employers (5,000+ employees), 23% large employers (1,000-4,999 employees), 23% medium employers (200-999 employees) and 38% small employers (3-199 employees).
